Seven area businesses opened their doors to over 100 high school students and educators from seven schools to not only show them their business, but to give an overview of how they became entrepreneurs.

To take the experience to the next level, Moraine Park Technical College hosted all the students and educators on campus for the afternoon. Students learned more about entrepreneurship and validating a product idea from Mike Pelland, founder and CEO of Princeton Audio. They also participated in an idea generation activity to prepare them for the second annual “IGNITE! Youth Idea Challenge” to be held on March 8, 2017.

What was the single most valuable thing students learned from the Entrepreneurship on Tour event? Students shared the following common themes on the feedback survey: “it’s okay to fail in order to succeed”; “hard work is necessary in order to be a successful entrepreneur”; “you don’t have to be the smartest person in school to become a successful entrepreneur”; “you should never give up on your dreams or what you love”; and “success takes teamwork”.

Engaging high school students is a focus of IGNITE! Business Success, the umbrella, go-to resource network of 18 local organizations supporting area entrepreneurs. Wisconsin has historically ranked in the bottom tier of the Kauffman Index for Start-up Activity. Therefore, entrepreneurship education needs to begin early.

“Anyone can be an entrepreneur at any age”, says Jo Ann Giese-Kent, vice president of Entrepreneurship and Research at the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation. “Our youth can be future entrepreneurs and job creators spurring a culture of risk taking, creativity and innovation locally.”

IGNITE! wants to expose youth to business experiences, help them explore their own ideas and think entrepreneurially whether they eventually start their own business or work for someone else.

Students were not the only ones that benefited from the tours.

Tom Schneider from Silica For Your Home said, “We truly enjoyed being one of the sites for the Youth Entrepreneurship on Tour event. It was not only great to be able to tell the students about the challenges, risks and decisions that we made in order for our business to succeed, but I enjoyed the students’ insightful questions on becoming an entrepreneur.”

Joe Truesdale, marketing account manager at wisnet.com echoed Schneider’s feedback. “It’s exciting to have so many students who are energized about innovation and entrepreneurship in to visit us at wisnet. We’re proud to have their talent in our area schools and excited to see what they have in store for our future.”